The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) simultaneously renumbered and published an update to NASA-STD-6008, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for Spaceflight. The new document, NASA-STD-8739.14, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for NASA Mission Hardware, is now available for download at standards.nasa.gov. This is the first substantive technical change to the document since its stewardship transferred from the NASA Office of Chief Engineer to OSMA in 2008. The number change aligns with OSMA’s assigned number series for technical standards.

NASA released two NASA Interim Directives (NIDs) updating the agency’s requirements for robotic and human missions traveling to the Earth’s Moon and human missions traveling to Mars.

NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance released NPR 8621.1D, NASA Procedural Requirements for Mishap and Close Call Reporting, Investigating, and Recordkeeping, effective July 6, 2020. In addition to various administrative changes, the update includes two new chapters focused on commercial launch and aircraft mishaps. 

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) Software Assurance program recently updated NASA-STD-8739.8, NASA Software Assurance and Software Safety Standard — formerly NASA Software Assurance Standard.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance recently updated NPR 8715.7, Payload Safety Program — formerly Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) Payload Safety Program  — to bring the document into commonality with guidelines for NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) structure and format and to broaden its applicability to any and all payloads.

The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) — the industry standards organization that manages coordination and publication of AS9100, Quality Management Systems – Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations  — recently released guidance and relief for its normal certification policies and timing requirements. The IAQG made the announcement due to travel restrictions and work stoppages among AS9100-certified suppliers due to COVID-19.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) recently released “A Meteoroid Handbook for Aerospace Engineers and Managers” (NASA/TM-2019-220142) to help educate programs across the agency about the environments their spacecraft could encounter during their missions and, in turn, help programs protect their spacecraft from potentially damaging threats.

When something goes wrong, swift action is often necessary, especially in the case of a severe mishap or high-visibility mishap or close call. Knowing what to do ahead of these incidents can help in the aftermath.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance is preparing to submit NASA-STD-8739.14, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for NASA Mission Hardware for agencywide review in order to meet the planned May 6, 2020, publication date. 

The U.S. National Space Council announced the update to the U.S. Government (USG) Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP). The announcement took place at the First International Orbital Debris Conference (co-sponsored by NASA) in Sugar Land, Texas.